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Komatireddy says New York Medicaid fraud enforcement has fallen under rival Letitia James
Komatireddy noted that between 2019 and 2024, annual recoveries have fallen from $168 million to just $31 million, with a low of $19 million in 2022.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Fri, 22, May 2026
- 03:35 EDT
- 18
Saritha Komatireddy / Saritha Komatireddy via X
New York Attorney General candidate and Indian-American Republican Saritha Komatireddy has called out incumbent New York Attorney General Letitia James, accusing her of insufficient oversight on Medicare frauds taking place in the state.
Komatireddy, who is fighting a closely contested battle against her Democrat rival James,claimed that New York currently spends more per resident on Medicaid than any other state, with total spending projected to reach $126 billion this year. She alleged that despite a declining population, Medicaid costs have continued to rise in the state.
The Indian American attorney and former federal prosecutor noted that James has boosted funding for the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) by 57 percent, however, she alleged, enforcement outcomes have dropped significantly.
ALSO READ: Saritha Komatireddy calls for safer New York prisons
Komatireddy noted that between 2019 and 2024, annual recoveries have fallen from $168 million to just $31 million, with a low of $19 million in 2022.
She further argued that this decline is due to the number of investigations relative to Medicaid spending being among the lowest in the nation.
She argued, “New York’s Medicaid spending is at record highs but its Medicaid Fraud enforcement is record lows. That’s because New York Attorney General Letitia James has run the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit into the ground."
Komatireddy continued, "She (James) has cut staff, cut enforcement, and turned what was once the leading Medicaid Fraud unit in the country—obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars and more than 100 criminal convictions per year—into a place that does a fraction of that work."
The New York AG ranked near the bottom in the nation for investigating fraud. That should alarm every taxpayer in this state. As Attorney General, I will add 20 criminal prosecutors to the Medicaid fraud unit and prosecute 10 times the fraud — at least.
— Saritha Komatireddy (@sarithaforny) May 21, 2026
Read my full statement… https://t.co/kW0NNFqCuV
Describing the numbers as "shocking", Komatireddy accused James of failing to protect New Yorkers and remarked that this failure is raising healthcare costs and taxes for everyone.
Substantiating her arguments, Komatireddy presented statistics from the Empire Center for Public Policy, a New-York based think-tank.
The Empire Center claims, "An analysis of nationwide MFCU records 2020 through 2024 shows that New York’s unit completed an average of eight investigations per billion dollars spent, which was the third-lowest rate among the 50 states and 63 percent below the U.S. average.”
Komatireddy further claimed, "According to her own year-end reports, in the last reported year, New York Attorney General Letitia James’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered 18% of what it did when she first came into office."
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